Maybe it was because I was three gins into the evening; maybe my headphones were in prime form; maybe it was all the folk horror movies I’ve been binging lately; maybe it’s just the season, but GREEN LUNG has never sounded better. Let the debate ensue. On November 3, 2023 the Stoner/Doom Metal quintet from London dropped their third full-length, “This Heathen Land.” Continuing their assent to world domination, they are now on Nuclear Blast Records. The album itself? Bewitching.

Good news: no lineup changes. Hurray. Also, Nuclear Blast, so arguably better, bigger studio with more time to luxuriate and explore. Expect loads of videos and other marketing support. So, yeah, all good on the upward trajectory front, giving this band some of the attention they deserve.

By this time, the band doesn’t have to prove themselves and can instead explore, expand, and just do what the fuck they want. I have to believe the GREEN LUNG we hear on “This Heathen Land” is a band who are doing the things they want to do. Authentic is the word I’m looking for. The hardest thing about listening to new material from a band you already know and love is getting past your own expectations. It’s a risk for bands to grow, but it’s also a necessity. All that is to say, GREEN LUNG has consistently grown across all their albums. “This Heathen Land” is different from all their other releases, so if you are coming back for the second or third or fourth helping, expect something different.

With that in mind, the album kicks off with “Prologue,” a one-minute intro with a spoken world sample overlaid with a warbly synthscape. Track two, “The Forest Church,” is a bow to the 1971 classic “The Blood on Satan’s Claw” about a claw that is plowed up, sparking the rise of a sleeper Baphomet cult in a quaint English village. Much nudity, murderous sacrifice, and, yes, spontaneous sprouting of said claw unfold. Must see folk horror cinema, this one. But back to the album: track by track, the entire album references aspects of woodland folklore which have haunted us in film, literature, legends, and, as some would have us believe, actual living experience.

Tom Templar, vocalist, shared: “I’ve had the classic Reader’s Digest book Folklore, Myths and Legends of Britain by my bedside since childhood . . . with this album I wanted to conjure the experience of reading that book in sonic form - to take listeners on a journey into the weird World of British folklore, into the woods and over the mountains and onto the moors, and to inspire them to see the magic that’s still out there, if you use a little imagination.”

Standout tracks as always will depend on listener tastes, but I favor “The Ancient Way,” which has a bit of KHEMMIS flare to it. I love the sinister vocals and unrelenting riffs on this one. “The Forest Church” could have easily been the title track. Probably the best track on the album. “Maxine (Witch Queen)” is an infectious tune giving homage to Maxine Sanders, one of the most influential figures in modern Pagan witchcraft and co-founder with her late husband, Alex Sanders, of Alexandrian Witchcraft. I also really enjoy “One Time for Sorrow,” a doom-laden about, what else, standing stones. Conjures images of Arthur Machen stories. Of course, “Song of the Stones” also conjures images of Fae, but more of the nice kind. “One Time for Sorrow” is more of the Laird Barron and Gemma Files variety, whereas “Song of Stones” is the Tom Bombadil sort.

Okay, I’ll argue with myself now. I’m not sure if “This Heathen Land” tops “Black Harvest.” Certainly not on a sonic basis, but maybe on a thematic basis, especially with the resurgence of folk horror in cinema and literature. Either way, it’s a metric fuckton better than the incessant dribble we are being exposed to in mainstream. My advice, head to the woodlands dark and look for the local coven of underground, extreme metal. Wear sensible footwear and if you find yourself amongst the Fae, don’t eat anything.